Page 134 - English Reader - 7

to eat. You might run that
comb through your hair so

you will look presentable.”

In another corner of the
room behind a screen was a

gas plate and an ice box. Mrs.
Jones got up and went behind

the screen. The woman did
not watch the boy to see if he

was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind
her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the

room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her
eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And

he did not want to be mistrusted now.

“Do you need somebody to go to the store?” asked the boy, “maybe to get

some milk or something?

“Don’t believe I do,” said the woman, “unless you just want sweet milk
yourself, I was going to make cocoa out of this canned milk I got here.”

“That will be fine,” said the boy.

She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the
cocoa, and set the table.

The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his

folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate,

she told him about her job in a hotel beauty-shop that stayed open late,
what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out,
blondes, red-heads and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent

cake.

134 Dolphin English Reader Book 7